Prisoners 'post messages and photographs on Facebook'

Prisoners are breaking jail rules by posting messages and photographs on Facebook, it has been reported.

10:23AM GMT 03 Mar 2009

Ross Ajilo, who is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence in HMP Hindley in Wigan, Lancs, for attacking an unconscious man, is pictured making a v-sign in an image reportedly uploaded to the social networking website.

Using the alias Raka Mental, Ajilo, 19, is also reported to have posted messages to his personal page.

According to The Sun, in one he wrote: "Incarceration ain't workin. Am lockd up bt ma soul's on da streets lerkin!!"

In another, the newspaper claimed, he wrote: "Raka's got bullets that will rip through ya ribs."

He reportedly also joked about Jade Goody's cancer, suggesting her friends join together to buy her a wig.

According to the newspaper, Duwaine Robinson, 22, posted images of prisoners making threatening gun gestures in their cells.

Meanwhile Paul David Cooper, 27, is said to have written: "How the ---- did I get sunburnt in jail ha ha."

A source is reported to have told the newspaper: "Jail bosses seem powerless as prisoners log on to Facebook with impunity.

"They're laughing at the system. They preen, pose and chat to pals outside. The danger is they can intimidate witnesses and buy drugs."

It is thought prisoners are able to defy a ban on internet access by using mobile phones smuggled into their cells.

- Prisoners at HMP Hull are reported to have been given four tropical fish tanks to help them relax. Officers criticised the decision. A Prison Service spokesman told The Daily Mirror: "The fish tanks will have a calming influence on offenders and so provide a better environment for staff."